How to stay healthy this winter using Feng Shui

You’re taking your vitamin C and echinacea, you’re rugging up, you have your warming cup of tea in front of the heater at night and still you can’t seem to fight off that cold or flu. It’s frustrating! Here’s some tips on how you can increase your health and build up your immune system by applying Feng Shui principles to your bedroom.

Why the bedroom?

In Feng Shui the energetic and physical set-up of your bedroom represents your health as well as your relationships. How well you sleep and how much rest your body gets during the night correlates directly to your health situation.

A healthy environment in your bedroom is paramount to help your body relax and recuperate during the night. If your body is busy fighting off energetic imbalances in your bedroom environment during the night, there is no time for the immune system to fight off infections!

Position your bed for health

For the best possible Feng Shui in your bedroom your bed head should always be up against a solid wall to give you support while you’re sleeping. You should be able to see the the whole room, including the door, while lying bed. If your body is in line with the door when lying in bed you should keep the door closed at night to avoid having “arrows” of energy directed at you all night as this is exhausting for your body. You should not be able to see your own reflection in a mirror while in bed. According to Feng Shui it is not recommended to have mirrors in the bedroom at all as they disturb your sleep.

If you can’t put your bed head against a solid wall, a window with the blinds or curtains closed at night is your next best option.

In Feng Shui it’s highly recommended to never put your bed head against a wall shared with a bathroom or laundry, as this will have a draining effect on your energy. Sleeping against a wall shared with a wet room may cause you to wake up feeling tired and drained. You want to give your body energy at night, not take energy away from it.

Don’t go with the flow

It’s a common thing these days to want to “be in the flow”. At night while sleeping, this is actually one of the worst places to be!

When lying in bed it’s very important to stay out of the Qi (energy) flow in your bedroom as much as possible. Qi flow relates to how energy moves throughout your bedroom. Most often Qi enters via the bedroom door and exists via the window. If your bed is placed in this energy flow path I recommend closing your door at night. This will block the flow of Qi and make for a more restful sleep for you.

You also want to stay out of air flow in winter. When it’s hot in summer sleeping in the breeze from an open window is one of the most fabulous things you can do in my opinion. In winter, not so much!

If you’re sleeping by a window you are best to put up thick curtains and keep them shut at night. This is to avoid any draft from the window reaching your head. I’m assuming here that your head is probably the only body part sticking out from under the warm and cosy doona, and as a result the most likely to get cold.

You might have heard that “most of your body heat escapes via your head as heat rises in the body”. This is actually not true, however if your head is the only part not covered by a blanket or doona at night it WILL be where most of your body heat escapes. So avoid sleeping in a draft simply to avoid getting cold.

It’s also best if your bed is raised off the floor. In winter the draft along the floor is normally worse than anywhere else and it’s beneficial for your health to avoid sleeping in such a draft if you can.

Ban EMFs from your bedroom

It’s cold outside, you’re freezing and despite that hot cup of tea you’re still not warm. Jumping into a cold bed doesn’t really seem like such a great idea. So you go out and get an electric blanket. Bad idea!

All electrical appliances create EMFs (Electro Magnetic Fields), as long as they are plugged into the wall. Electric fields are created from anything that contains electricity under pressure. Magnetic Fields are created as a result of current, i.e. flowing electricity. This only occurs when an appliance is being used.

An electric blanket will emit a high level magnetic field while heating, as well as an electric field. If you sleep with the blanket turned on all night you’re lying directly on top of a strong EMF and this is not at all healthy for your body. Even if you turn the heating off in the blanket when you go to bed, there is still an electric field being emitted.

Our bodies need time and opportunity to rest and recuperate during the night. Having to “deal with” the effects of EMFs during this time is not supportive of your body and may have adverse effects on your health.

There is an ongoing debate and research around what influences EMFs have on human health. The strongest evidence that EMF exposure has adverse effects on human health can be found in studies done on EMFs and childhood leukaemia. There are also a number of other diseases and conditions that have been associated with EMF exposure, such as cancers (including brain tumours), clinical depression, suicide, miscarriages, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Therefore I highly recommend that you switch off all electrical appliances in the bedroom while sleeping, and never, ever sleep in close proximity to the meter box. I even recommend not using a clock radio in your bedroom. Please avoid charging your mobile phone in your bedroom too, or using it as your alarm clock. The exact impact of microwaves and radio signals on our bodies while we sleep is fairly unknown at this stage, however the research that is being done is not looking good.

Use a good old fashioned hot water bottle instead of that electric blanket and go back to an battery operated alarm clock!

Don’t get dry in July

In winter I think most of us would agree that living in a home with reverse cycle air conditioning or central heating is very comfortable and the way to go. Well, let’s look at it, is it really all that fabulous?

Breathing in heated, dry air is actually not great for your body. In fact, dry air is one of the major causes of respiratory infections, nose bleeds and repeated episodes of winter colds. A lack of moisture in your indoor air can stop your immune system from effectively taking care of germs and it may even promote the growth of some bacteria and viruses.

So what can you do?

One way to get around these problems is to use a proper humidifier system in your home. This kind of system will not only regulate the dryness of the air in winter, it will also do the opposite in summer and handle any heightened moisture levels. This method is comparatively expensive and a bit of an ordeal to get installed. Not something you can easily do on your own.

Instead you can invest in a portable humidifier. They come in various sizes and prices and if you do some research online you can find some really good ones.

Another way of adding some moisture back into your indoor air is to simply use a good old oil burner. This won’t be as effective as a humidifier and it will still make a difference. I prefer using oil burners that are not electrical. I like ones with big bowls for water/essential oil as that way I know I won’t run out of water for as long as the tea light still burns. And of course with this alternative you can add your favourite essential oils to the water and create a lovely ambience in your bedroom too!

Now it’s up to you. Time to take action and support your good health this winter! Move your bed if you have to, close your bedroom door, fill that hot water bottle and light up your oil burner!

To your excellent health,
Sara